Just got back from seeing Alice Walker at Busboys and Poets. She spoke a lot about Israel, about finding your voice in the face of unspeakable horror, about starting where you are at and not always seeing change in terms of the big thing (policy…). Can’t wait to read her new book.

She also answered a question from the audience about the census. They wanted to know if she thought they should stop asking people to categorize themselves by race. She said, rather than stop, she thought they should expand the categories. There should be Italian American, German American… She said that people gave up so much of their history in order to become white. Coincidentally, I had just this morning read an excellent article over at Godheval that talked about what it meant to become white.

If you have not heard, there are reports of a disaster brewing in Honduras right now. Troops are moving in to indigenous communities who have been involved in land disputes with huge landholders there. The officials are stopping people and asking for ID, searching vehicles, and just generally threatening the community. I haven’t seen too many reports in English. This one is in Spanish.